So Who From State Will Testify Against Bradley Manning? A List.

The trial United States v. Pfc. Bradley Manning is being conducted in as much secrecy as the government thinks it can get away with. While the Center for Constitutional Rights has filed a petition requesting the Army Court of Criminal Appeals “to order the Judge to grant the public and press access to the government’s motion papers, the court’s own orders, and transcripts of proceedings,” none of these have been made.

Except of course for Alexa O’Brien, who has amazingly sat in the limited public access area and personally written down every word said that she was allowed to listen to, effectively creating a de facto transcript.

It is heavy legal reading, but worth your time simply to see what lengths the government is going to hang one man. Manning’s actions took place years ago, and whatever he released has been on the internet for years. Any punishment will thus have no real effect, except to commit revenge. So it is in 2013 America.

Who Speaks?

Deep inside the transcript is a list of upcoming government witnesses. As a public service, we present the names below as they appear, with Alexa’s comments. State Department people in BOLD that I added.

In the government’s 15 March 2013 classified filing Supplement to Prosecution Response to Scheduling Order of 39(a) Session from Closure and Motion to Close Courtroom for Specified Testimony, the government describes the classified information it moves to elicit in closed session for the following witnesses:

[Diplomatic Security Services which partnered with the Departments of Defense and Justice in the investigation of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, and Manning report to Ambassador Patrick Kennedy. Bureau of Intelligence and Research, which created the “August 2011 draft damage assessment” also reports to Kennedy. Kennedy is the Original Classification Authority for the US State Department cables. He also testified to Congress in late November, early December of 2010, and in March 2011 about WikiLeaks. He is also responsible for the WikiLeaks Mitigation Team at the Department of State.]

Of course we have no idea whether any of the unnamed “classified” witnesses are from State, though it is doubtful.

Most/all of the State Department people listed head up various bureaus at State. These bureaus are the bureaucratic structures that handle say “East Asian Affairs” or “European Affairs.” Just guessing here, but the government is probably calling them to testify on behalf of their world region about all the horrible, terrible things that have happened since Manning released the documents. None of us will be allowed to hear what they have to say, but it would be safe to assume the court will listen to a lot of drama and smoke and LIONS and TIGERS and BEARS! horror-speak and very little substantive comment.

The most interesting State witness is Patrick F. Kennedy, the Under Secretary of State for Management. Kennedy keeps popping up on this blog, in the press and in front of Congress (he was the real point man on Benghazi.) He has been around State for a very long time, and basically runs the place administratively in Washington while various important people fly around the world doing their diplomacy.

Kennedy is officially the “original classifying authority,” the person at State who is titularly responsible for every classification decision. He may just offer up some boring testimony confirming that all the documents manning leaked labeled “Secret” were indeed classified Secret.

Or maybe not. Kennedy also oversaw State’s internal report on the Wikileaks impact and ran the working group that was supposed to identify people at risk because their names appeared in the State Department cables online. Notice how every weird, bad or naughty thing that State does somehow involves Pat Kennedy?It would be worth serious coin to listen in on Kennedy’s testimony but alas, because this is America now, the trial is largely off limits.

Bonus: Some earlier State Department personnel testimony about State’s internal processes surrounding the Wikileaks disclosures. Nothing earth shaking, but some interesting inside baseball stuff from Ops Center coordinator Rena Bitter about how the bureaucracy processed the new information. Short version: most of the effort was spent informing Department big shots of potentially embarrassing stuff the media caught. The Defense seems to be establishing that there was not much real-world impact from the disclosures.

Recent Comments

pitchfork said...

1

The so called “trial” of Bradley Manning is living proof how deep the USG has sunk in the contemptible Ministry of Truth cesspool. How do these monsters face themselves in the mirror each morning, knowing they are making up this shit as they go, while burning the Magna Carta and the Constitution in one fell swoop? Personally, I no longer recognize this abomination known as the USG, as it no longer represents what I was taught from birth. For me, I am witness to the unfolding of Revelations, and the USG is simply the incarnation of Satin personified. Folks, behold the manifest evil of a government gone mad.

No unidentified witnesses who work for the government should be permitted to testify without divulging their identity. If the government cites concern for their well being then please find another witness. There are enough identified witnesses, unless there is concern their testimony isnt strong enough

My bet is that ambassador Eugene Cretz was not in the least embarrassed when his emails saying that Gaddafi was an odd bird with “security” fetishes were wikileaked. Hell, for all we know maybe Gaddafi had a good chuckle over those “secret” emails right up to the time he was “died”. What will any unshackled future historians make of Hag Hillary’s cackle of, “We came, we saw he died” gloating?

Very interesting…Makes me wonder what people the defense is requesting..like his trainers.. Some one with “hacking” skills had to train him, show him what to look for…or push his buttons for him, luck? no these are supposed to be the highest in security? Makes me wonder?
Boy this trainer had to be someone who could do it fast, being a striper, he didn’t have access to those areas, being on a mil system didn’t give him access to those systems, nice set-up,,, what were they covering up, another mccrystal,or betrayus?

My bet is that ambassador Eugene Cretz was not in the least embarrassed when his emails saying that Gaddafi was an odd bird with “security” fetishes were wikileaked. Hell, for all we know maybe Gaddafi had a good chuckle over those “secret” emails right up to the time he was “died”

@ John, this is an interesting point. Alot of times the information is already known by local populaces. That stuff is in local papers even, why is it categorized as secret if it is so publicly accessible and had been for a long time? Who didnt know Qaddafi was off his rocker or liked Ukrainian women? That’s common knowledge in the Middle East. It is known when embassy staff visit leaders or dine with them or attend special functions.

It’s only news to me, an American, like when a newspaper reported that a US ambassador had characterized Prince Andrew as being greedy during a business trip to Central Asia. I had no idea what Prince Andrew was like until then, but I wish the information had remained classified.

Now when I see Prince Andrew in the media, I cant help but think, yes, he does look the greedy type

Good grief, wtf these people got to do with Bradley Manning, does he even know them…How about they bring in those Pilots that shot innocent children and joked about it…see if they can deny what they did…Nah that would be a bad mistake hey America, then they would have to admit that they not Bradley are guilty…what a joke, persecuting one little man, get it right, and cut the crao….

The pilot and gunner in the infamous leaked video are probably safely out of “harm’s way”. They might still believe they did nothing wrong while gleefully serving empire and are only angry the video got into the wrong hands. They wanted a copy to show to friends while having beer off post for laughs. Manning killed that possibility and for that alone he must die!

quote:”They wanted a copy to show to friends while having beer off post for laughs. Manning killed that possibility and for that alone he must die!”
unquote

Meanwhile, all the Bush worshiping military war criminals who murdered and tortured innocent civilians with impunity get rewarded with medals they display on their chests as if they are worthy of hero worship.

Make me puke. Our whole empire building military is a mockery of Nuremberg, while the Bradley Manning “trial” is a gigantic monument to the Kangaroo, redefining absurd notwithstanding. If there was ever living proof our Federal Cartel has devolved into Orwellian world on steroids, this “Ministry of Truth” abomination is the Plumb Bob of power gone mad.

And then there is Guantanamo. There are no words to describe the depth of my contempt for this vile atrocity to human rights and the sub-human pond scum in our government who have allowed this cesspool of evil to exist. To them, I can only say this. You are morally dead, and will go down in the annuls of War Crime history along side all those who’ve perpetrated crimes against humanity since time immortal. You fool no one but yourself. However…your judgement day awaits, and God has no statute of limitations constraints.

Rich Bauer is back…from visiting a small town near Clearwater, Florida last week where he was writing his latest screenplay and buying Powerball tickets and all his tickets were winners because they each had the “11” PB since after all that is the name of his blog and….well, you will all have to wait to read about it someday in Wikileaks or if you can’t wait read about it on my blog: